HT. The blog.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

I've been wanting to try my hand at transferring photos to canvas for awhile now. I just got back from Trinidad and have tons of great photos that are just begging to be displayed.

While wandering the aisles at Michaels today I found a 4-pack of 3" square canvas, stretched onto tiny wood frames and already primed! They were $4.99 but with the 40% coupon it was a total steal. Btw if you don't have the apps for both Michaels and Hobby Lobby, stop everything you're doing and download them. Back to the DIY!

Materials needed:
Canvas
ModPodge
Foam brush
Photos

I printed my photos on a color laserjet, at 4" square. This will give you enough room to wrap your photos around the sides of the canvas. You could also paint the edges if you don't want to wrap them. Remember, if you're going to wrap the edges, be sure you center your images with that in mind.

Cover your canvas with ModPodge and center your photo on top. Wait a few minutes for it to dry, and then wrap and ModPodge your edges. Fold the corners down just like you are wrapping a present. When that dries, ModPodge the top and sides. I did mine with two coats of the matte, but I bet glossy would look great too!

They dry pretty quickly. I absolutely love them, and wish I had bought a few more packages of the canvas!

I will definitely be doing this project again!

I decided to hang mine with a ribbon (just staple the ribbon along the back and make a loop at the top. Easy peasy! :)

Monday, July 02, 2012

We got up bright and early and headed to church at Faith Assembly International. Pastor KK Bechu was the preacher - one of eight siblings, seven of which are now preachers, the eighth being the only sister. She was a teacher who eventually had a high position in the ministry of education and was able to get the government to allow a 45-minute time of religious study in the schools.

Pastor KK and his siblings, when they were children, were invited to a Bible study by a group of missionaries from Michigan. They were brought up in the Hindu religion. After this Bible study, all eight children gave their lives over to Jesus. Those missionaries will never know the impact hey had on that family, and how far-reaching the effects are! I would say that thousands have come to know the Lord, in Trinidad and beyond! I can only hope and pray that the seeds we have planted here will have even a small fraction of that!

After church several people went back to Maracas Bay, and all of us sunburned folks went back to camp. We enjoyed an afternoon of rest and were able to venture out into the neighborhood a bit. We saw a Hindu wedding parading up the street, complete with a 'party bus' following the couple up the street to the reception blaring loud music in celebration. The Hindu culture is very strong in Trinidad, homes that practice this religion can be spotted by their many cane-pole flags of different colors staked in their yards. Islam is also common, as well as a voodoo type cult (which I think only a few of us encountered during our outreach times). I believe that God is claiming Trinidad for himself, as we were able to minister to people of all faiths, seeing even strong Hindu believers renounce all of their gods and give their lives over to Jesus. May this continue long after we have left!

Sunday evening we were privileged to lead worship for a church right in our own place, at TTUM. The pastor was another of the siblings I wrote of before. We were also able to worship with their worship team, it was so fun to be able to learn some of their songs!

We hit they hay early as we had to get up at 3:30am to leave for the airport.

I truly have been blessed by this trip, stretched and grown by God. And I hope to be able to return to Trinidad soon, as I have left a part of my heart in that wonderful country.

Saturday morning we split up and went to an orphanage and an elderly home. I love kids, but I don't really have a heart for children's ministry, so I chose to go to the elderly home.

When we arrived, we each sat next to one of the residents. My special friend was Elsie, who was 92 years old. She's the mother of 5, and is a grandmother, a great-grandmother, and a great-great-grandmother. She talked lovingly of her family, and there was a sweet kindness in her eyes. I enjoyed listening to her tell me her story. She had met her husband, her one and only love, when she was quite young. He played the piano at church and she was in the choir. She was engaged at 18 and married at 19. She was a teacher for many years.

Her family had a dog when she was young, an Airedale from England, he was quite a character. Bele was his name. I told her about my Roxie and she love looking at the photos of her on my phone. I miss her so much!

After awhile we pulled out the guitar and sang a few worship songs. We then started singing the 'old goldies' (as one of the locals called them). The residents truly came alive hearing hose old hymns, singing and clapping, their eyes alive with each word sung. I can only think that our bus ride a few days previous had prepare us for this, as we would never have remembered all of those hymns that morning! God truly does amazing things to prepare us for the future, we should rejoice in the small things.

After lunch we came back together and went to a neighborhood that was in need of some love. We took the guitars and djembe and did an acoustic jam session at one home. We spread out around the neighborhood and invited everyone to join us. As soon as we started singing and playing, children came from every direction!

We were able to share the love of Jesus with many that afternoon, and several asked Jesus into their hearts. One child in particular really connected with Tim, one of our djembe players (you can check out Tim & Christina's story on our mission trip blog: mission-trinidad.blogspot.com). This kid had a gift for that drum! It was incredible!!

Saturday evening we had a much needed time of encouragement and testimony. We also praised Jesus for awhile and some of the locals came up an joined us. At one point, 3 young men came up the stairs to join us, one carrying a guitar. Not one minute later, and I am not exaggerating, Michael broke a string on his guitar. The man handed his guitar to Michael and we continued with worship! Jeremy later said that we had brought lots of extra strings but hadn't yet needed any. Amazing that God works in the little things like that, isn't it?

On Wednesday afternoon we went back to our host church to hit the streets again. April and I went with brother Danny, I had gone with him on Monday. We had a pretty short street to cover, and many of the families were already believers.

We came to the last house and there we're many children playing in the yard. We spoke with the two women who were sitting by the home and shared with them our purpose in Trinidad and asked if they needed prayer. The older woman said that we could pray a general prayer over the home if we wanted. As we were about to pray, she mentioned that she'd been working in the yard the day before and had a headache because of it. April and I placed our hands on her head and prayed for her headache to be gone in the name of Jesus. After we said amen April asked if she had felt anything. She told us that she had felt a tingling in her head. We were excited and told her that was the Holy Spirit she had felt!

April began to talk to the other lady, who had a red mark from the top of her forehead into her hair (which we later found out was a Hindi mark to signify that she was married). I turned to talk to the older lady once again and she had picked up one of her granddaughters and wanted me to pray for her. The child had club feet and had recently had surgery to fix it, but when the casts came off nothing had changed. I was honored and placed my hands on the little girl's feet and began to pray over her. She watched me with her beautiful brown eyes as I prayed for healing and that she would one day run and dance for the Lord. I did not witness a healing of her feet, but I am certain that had the woman not felt the Holy Spirit move in our first prayer, she would have not asked me to pray for her granddaughter.

As I watched her go off to play, she could walk quite well despite her feet being turned in, I prayed that God would heal that little girl, but if he does not, I believe that He has a special purpose for her in his kingdom. Jehovah Rafa, you are our healer!

Saturday, June 30, 2012

One week after arriving in Trinidad, we finally got to see the ocean!! We drove all the way up the island, from Gasparillo (deep south) to Maracas Bay (northern coast). It took a few hours, and we went up some seriously steep and windy (wine-dee, not windy as in much wind, lol) roads. In a bus, mind you. About 5km from the beach there was an amazing lookout point where we got to pull over and take photographs. It was soooo beautiful.

We pulled into Maracas Bay and were immediately overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of the place. Sandy beaches, ocean for miles, palm trees, and mountains!! All in one place!

We had lunch at one of the many stands, and I believe all of us (or at least a large # of us) got the Bake & Shark. Yep, you read that right, shark! Its the other, other, other white meat! And delicious too, by the way.

We had lots of fun swimming in the ocean and trying to ride the waves. I caught my fair share and was also totally demolished by a few as well. All kinds of fun. I also bought a few souvenirs from some local Trinis selling jewelry and handmade leather bags that were in the shape of coconuts.

We stopped at the mall by way of Port-of-Spain (which also has some majestic views of its own) so we could do a little shopping and eat dinner. Because we'd spent all day at the beach, many of us were quite sunburned, myself included. Apparently being so close to the equator pretty much renders even 70 SPF useless to a fair-skinned gal like me. I'm a lobster! One of the locals asked if all Americans were pink like us! Haha!!

We had a wonderful time relaxing and seeing God's beautiful creation. And I've decided that it is necessary for my soul that I visit the ocean at least once a year.